Sen Sielski [Idyllic Dream]. An Attempt At Scrutiny

Abstract

In the sketch Sen sielski - an attempt at scrutiny Maciej Urbanowski tries to interpret the well-known poem by Czechowicz pointing out that a specific 'rhetoric of purity' is present in it. This rhetoric - that has been as yet seldom analysed - started appearing in the poetry of the author of dzień jak co dzień [a day like every day] in the second half of the 1930's. Urbanowski stresses that the motif of 'purification', around which the 'lyrical action' of Sen sielski is focused fits the poem in the pattern of 'pure poetry' that was intriguing for Czechowicz at that time, but also in the poet's personal mythology. Czechowicz's dramas written at the same time are also an important interpretation context for Sen.... This allows Urbanowski to look for manifestations of Czechowicz's religious anxieties in Sen sielski, including his often neglected ties to Catholicism, which at that very time became the subject of lively interest with writers, mainly owing to Maritain and his neo-Thomist aesthetics.